This invention generally relates to communications between different vehicles. More particularly, this invention relates to a system for communicating driving condition information between vehicles to anticipate driving conditions.
As drivers travel along roadways, they often encounter driving conditions that pose potential hazards. Examples include obstructions in the roadway, potholes or other breaks in the pavement and traffic situations. Often times, a driver is not able to respond as quickly as desired upon encountering such driving conditions.
Advances in vehicle systems include dynamically adjustable suspension components, for example, that assist a driver in negotiating through various driving conditions. Even with such systems, however, the response time is not always quick enough to accommodate the particular situation. There are inherent communication delays between controllers and the adjustable components between the time the sensors and the controller recognize a condition and the controller provides an appropriate signal for the needed response. Even without a communication delay, there are physical limitations on such adjustable devices that limit their response time.
It would be useful to provide a system that allows a driver or an onboard dynamically adjustable system to anticipate driving conditions to avoid potential hazards entirely or at least to have an anticipatory response when encountering the driving condition. This invention provides such a system.
In general terms, this invention is an intervehicle communication network that utilizes information gathered at a location of a first vehicle regarding a driving condition and provides that information to a second vehicle approaching the location so that the driver or an onboard system of the second vehicle is able to anticipate the driving condition before encountering it.
A system designed according to this invention includes at least one device supported on a first vehicle that generates a signal indicative of a driving condition at a location of the first vehicle. A receiver receives the driving condition signal. A controller supported on a second vehicle communicates with the receiver and controls at least one device on the second vehicle responsive to the driving condition signal. In this manner, the controller and the device which it controls anticipate the driving condition at the location before the second vehicle reaches the location of the driving condition.
In one example, the receiver portion is located remotely from the vehicles and includes a data processing center that facilitates providing useful information to various vehicles regarding driving conditions within the region the vehicles are traveling.
Another feature of this invention includes onboard diagnostics where the controller on a vehicle gathers information from sensors on the vehicle to anticipate potential repair or replacement needs of one or more vehicle components. In this manner, the system of this invention provides an anticipatory notification of a potential repair or replacement need, which minimizes inconvenience to the vehicle owner and facilitates avoiding undesirable repair costs.
The various features and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the currently preferred embodiments. The drawings that accompany the detailed description can be briefly described as follows.